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YLAMI y LOUIS JoSP A LLUSTRATIONS....--B"( COPYRIcTi909 by LOU48SEPR VA SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I.-The story opens at Monte Carlo with Col. Terence O'Rourke in his hotel. O'Rourke, a military free lance and something of a gambler. is dressing for appearance in the restaurant below when the sound of a girlish ,oice singing attracts his attention. Leaning out on the balcony he sees a beautiful girl who suddenly disappears. He rushes to the corridor to see a neatly gowned form enter the elevator and pass from sight. CHAPTER II.-O'Rourke's mind Is filled with thoughts of the girl, and when he goes to the gaming table he allows his remarkable winnings to accumulate in differently. He notices two men watch Ing him. One is the Hon. Bertie Glynn, while his companion is Viscount Des Trebes, a noted duelist. When O'Rourke leaves the table the viscount tells him he represents the French government and that he has been directed to O'Rourke as a man who would undertake a secret mission. CHAPTER III.-At his room O'Rourke, who had agreed to undertake the mission, awaits the viscount O'Rourke finds a mysterlous letter in his apartment. The viscount arrives. bands a sealed package to O'Rourke, who is not to open it until on the ocean. He says the French gov ernment will pay O'Rourke 25,000 francs for his services. A pair of ,dainty slip pers are seen protruding from under a doorway curtain and the viscount charges O'Rourke with having a spy secreted there. CHAPTER IV.-When the Irishman goes to his room he finds there the own er of the mysterious feet. It is his wife, Beatrix, from whom he had run away a year previous. They are reconciled, and opening the letter he had received, he nds that a law firm in Rangoon, India. ffers him 100.000 pounds for an Indian 'wel known as the Pool of Flame and 't to him by a dying friend. O'Rourke is his wife that It is in the keeping of a friend named Chambret In Algeria. CHAPTER V.-.-O'Rourke is forced to fight a duel with the viscount. The br ; gart nobleman is worsted in the com\.at and acts the poltroon. CHAPTER VT.-The loyal wife bids O'Rourke farewell and he promises to soon return with the reward offered for1 the Pool of Flame. He discovers both Glynn and the viscount on board the 'hiD which takes him to Algeria. CIIAPTER VII.-Chambret has left Al geria and O'Rourke has to gain a mili tary detachment going across the desert to rea h his friend. As he finds the latter there is an attack by bandits agnd - Chambret Is shot, t (!APTEN Vit.-Chambret dies telling O'Rourke that he has left the Pool of Flame with the governor general of Al geria. He gives the colonel a signet ring at the si!ght of which he says the official will deliver over the jewel. ICHAPTER 1X.-O'Rourke is attacked by Glynn and the viscount who ransack his luggage, but he worsts them In the conflict. CHAPTER X.-When be arrives at Al geria the Irishman finds the governor general away. He receives a note from D)es Trebes making a mysterious appoint ment CHAPTER XI.-The viscount tells O'Rourke that he has gained possession] of the jewel by stealing it from the safe of the governor general. He does not, however, know who has offered the r, ward for it. He suggests a duel with raplers. the victor to get that information and .the..Jewel. CHAPTER XII.-In the duel O'Rourke masters his adversary and secures pos session of the Pool of Flame. CHAPTBR XIII. - The efforts of O'Rourke are now directed toward speed ily geging to Rangoon with the jewel and he startsby ship, CHAPTE~ X"fV.-He finds the captain of the vessel to be a smuggier who tries to steal the jewel from him. * CHAPTER XV.-The jewel Is finally se. cured by the ship's captain and O'Rourke escapes to land. bHAPTER XtVt.-.With the aid of one Danny and his sweetheart, O'Rourkre] covers the Pool of Flame. .ere CHAPTER XVII. - O'Rourke again1 forms his plans to pursue his journey to Rangoon, - CHIAP'TER XVIII.-On board ship once more a mysterious lady appears who puz sles and interests the Irishman. CH{APTER XIX.-O'Rourke comes up off a lascar about to attack the lady, who6 IS . MIra 2.rynne. He kicks the man into the hold. CHAPTER XX i Prynne claims she is en route for India on a mission fn.r tw' " CH~!APTER XXI.-The ship captain 1S offered money to increase the speed of the vessel toward its destination. CHAPTER XXII.-There are suspicious occurrences on board, and a lascar seems to be watching O'Rourke and Mrs. Prynne.. CHfAPTER XXIII.--The woman tells o1 some one prowling about the cabin and trying the door of her stateroom. CHAPTER XXIV. The night feii clear- as crystal and wonderfully bright with stars; the wind went down with the sun, then :se again refreshed and waxed to ~alf a gale. At midnight Q'Rourke, sving the bridge, left the Ranee driv 2Ing steadily through a racing sea, ,through a world aoisy with the crisp rattle and crash 'of breaking crests. Fortif~Ytg himself with strong 'cof fee, the adventurer settled himself in a chair by the foot of the companion way steps leading up from the tiny saloon that served as dining-room for 'all but the crew of the tramp. From this position he commanded both gn trances, port and starboard, from the' upper deck, as well as the doors tha't flanked them on either hand, to the quarters occupied by Mrs. Prynne and to Dravos' stateroom, whMch was emp ty and would be so until -the next change of watch. The succeedin~g hotfrs dragged inter-' minably, quiet and unevent- l ful.... .. About six bells the moon got up, and its rays, filt.ering through the heavyaribbed glass of the skylight, filled -the saloon with an shlither that assorted incong. uoua with the dull glow of the electrie bWulb-s-dull, !-W~ause i-hprp was some .jThisg wror a r-h the quamo accord n1e mO Dravost Lio 'Rforke, weary and yawning, watch ed the milky rainbow dance upon the half-opaque glass overhead for several moments before it conveyed to him a warning. Then immediately he aban doned his seat and. stretched himself out upon a transom against the after bulkhead, whence he could see some thing less of the upper gangway, but sufficient for his purposes. For his chair had been beneath the skylight, and the wings of that were open for ventilation. "'Tis safer here," . he considered "There'll be no dropping one of those long knives on me now, be premedi tated inadvertence, I'm thiaking." He gaped tremendously. The peace of the night, the singing of the waves against the Ranee's sides, the deep throb and unbroken surge of her en gines, and the sustained, clear note of the monsoon in her wire rigging these combined with physical fatigue to soothe the man, to lull him into A Cry of Horror, Despair and Rage Stuck in the Wanderer's Tnroat. Fantastic borderland of dreams. Yet such was his command of self that he would not yield to the caressing touch f drowsiness, but merely lar motion less and at rest, communing with his ancy. And that led him out of the sordid saloon of the Ranee across the seas that lay ahead of that ship's prow, to the fair land whither he was o convey the Pool of Flame. . . Abruptly he leapt to his feet, wide iwake and raging. A blow was still sounding through the saloon a dull crash. Burled half way to the hilt in the bulkhead back f the transom a knife quivered. In-J tinctively the wanderer's fingers had losed upon the grip of his revolver.I Ee pulled the trigger almost before he realized what had happened and sent a bullet winging toward a spot Cn the gangway above where a pair f long brown legs had been but now were not. On the heels of thiat ?ruit-; (ess shot he sent another, this time with no *murderous intent, but to warn t~he captain on the bridge. Here at last was an issue forced, animus proven,, assassination indisputably at tempted. i-te sprang for the companionway, was half way up it in a thought, his 1art h6t within him, mouth dry with thirst fer that lascar's blood. Not a* b)ird time should the man escape his uge af, the hands of O'Rourke, he swore. 'A stentorian roar saluted him as he! gained the deck-a bellow choked and ending in a sickening gurgle. O'Rourke in a sash swung on his heel. Simaltaneously he came face to face with Quick. He could have cried aloud in pity. he caitain swayed before him, a massively built figure clothed all in hite, Ihuge arms trembling towards his head, revolver dropping from a nerveless hand, his chin fallen for-! ward on his chest, a stujid, weary smile on his face, and a dark and hid eous smear spreading swiftly over the bosom of his shirt. A cry of Iiorre, despair and rage stuck in. the wanderer% thr-aat. Quick, who had hailed his apbsarance on the Ranee at Aden as a harbinger of good luck, had been foully murdered. His dominant 'emotion of the moment, an Intense and pitiful solicitude for the dying 'man, threw him off his guard. Cder its influence he forgot the des Vperate case of which this tragedy brought all aboard the Ranee, put out his arms, received the falling body, and let it gently to the deck. But in a trice he was alive again to his own peril. In the twinkling of an eye he saw a flash of light gliding to. wards him with resistless impetus. Stively he swung to one side, to ->t, and leapt to his feet. At teknife, a kris sinuous - and ,i. ran cold upon the flesh of his chest, slit through his shirt, caught n the thong that held the, Pool of Flame, and tore out, leaving a flapping aid scratping a hand's breadth 'tis fo-earm. Heedless as, only in fact subconsciously to the deck, he ( aught at the hand that had wielded the kris; his fingers closed about the wrist, and, bracing himself, he swung the assassin off his feet. So doing, his fingers slipped on the man's greasy skin and he stum bled off his balance. His object, however, had been ac complished. The murderer, hurled a yard or more through the air, fell and slid along the deck into a group of lascars. one of whom, like a nine-pin, was knocked over and fell atop of him. O'Rourke recovered and stepped for ward, revolver poised to adminis'er the quietus to the murderer-an ami able intention which was, however, doomed to frustration. With almost inconceivable swiftness the group of lascars had become a mere tangle of arms and legs, a melange of strug gling limbs and bodies. Where he had thought to find a single prostr-te form, there were six struggling in con fusion on the deck. For a thought he stayed his finger on the trigger, waiting to pick out the undermost and slay him first of all,1 unwilling, furthermore, to waste one of the four invaluable cartridges re maining in his revolver. And then unexpectedly the tragedy seemed over and done with altogether. ' From the bottom of the heap of bod les a terrible cry of mortal anguish shrilled loud; and almost at once the mob seemed to resolve into its orig inal elements. Five lascars crawled, arose, or flung themselves away from the sixth, who lay inert, prone, limbs still twitching, a knife buried in his back. For a thought the 'tableau held, there in the pure brilliance of the moonlight; the half a dozen standing figures, O'Rourke a space apart from the rest, and two bodies, the one face down, Quick with a face to the stars, each with its dread background; a black stain that grew and spread slow ly upon the white, dazzling planks. . . . Quietly the tallest of the lascars moved forward, knelt and drew the knife from the back of his dead fel low. He straightened up, facing O'Rourke without a tremor, his eyes afire, and wiped the blade of the kris on his cummerbund. "Do not shoot, sahib," he said smoothly in excellent English. "Do not shoot, sahib, for it is I who have avenged. This dog," and with his toe he stirred the thing at his feet, "ran anok. Now he is dead." This was the serang who spoke. O'Rourke eyed him coldly through a prolonged silence. At length, "That seems quite evident," he admitted coolly. "Pick up that body and throw it overboard!" he commanded sharply. In obedence to a sign from the se rang, two of the lascars seized the body. A subsequent splash overside told the Irishman that his order had been carried out. But he heard it abstractedly, confronted as he was with a problem whose -difficulty was not to be underestimated, the problem embodied in the statuesque, impertur bable serang. It was hard to know what to do, what to believe, what action to take. If he were right in his surmise, the se-i rang should rightly be shot down In stantly, without an instant's respite. Yet the heartless brutality upon which his theory was based made him hesi tate. It was difficult to believe that' the serang had been able to accom plish what O'Rourke was inclined to credit him with; that he, the wielder! of the kris, the murderer of Quick, thrown off his feet by the Irishman's attack, had deliberately involved his fellows with him in his fall and profit ed by the confusion to slay one upon whom hi could throw the blame bor all that had_happened. The weapon~ quevci in O'Rourke's grasp. More than once in that brief debate he was tempted to shoot the fellow on suspicion. Yet h.e held hiis band; he could trot be positive. With every circumstance against him, he might still be telling the truth. The whole horrible affair might boil down to nothing more than an insane crime of a crazy Malay, one who, as the se-I rang claimed, had "run amok." He had not made up' his mind when his thoughts were given a new turn by a new complication, in the shape of l\Irs. Prynne herself. That lady came up thie co~mpanion steps with no apparent hesitation, no fear or appre hension; uityand confidently alert, on the otEer- hand, she was armed and prepared against danger In whatpverr form she might have to I counter it. She camne dfl'ectiy 'to the adventurer, Winutso much as a glance for the! group of lascars or the grim evidences of tragedy upon the deck. O'Ro6\irle shut liis teeth with exasperation. Whatever he decided to believe of the serang, whether -hs 4udgment said of the man, "Gfv,iity,' or "Not Guilty," he dared risk n.othing with the woman pres3t. He could not tell what hell of iurder and mutiny he might not let loose upon the Ranee, did he make one ill-advised or hasty move. Alone,' he could have faced the situation with equanimity; with the woman by his side, he felt as though handcuffed. I "You are hurt, Colonel O'Rourke?"' "A mere scratch, madam-an inch! of skin shaved off me arm. Be good enough to return to the saloon, waken! Danny and send him to me." She ignored the curtness of his tone, even as she ignored his wish. "What has happened ?" she demanded, rang ing herself by his side. "'Who is that -there on the deck!" Her voice ris ing a note, foreboded hysteria. "Quick-stabbed. I didn't- want ye to see. A lascar ran -amok, cut down the captain, was killed himself-kind ness," the irrepressible humorist broke out," of om- Mitle brwn brother.I His eyes never left the latter; not an instant did he take his attention from the cluster of dark figures; he was more than every ready to defend himself should they make any evert move, deeming his attention distract ed. "What will you do?" "How can I say? Do ye, for the love of God, get below and leave me to deal with these fiends in me own fashion." "Which," she returned equably, "is precisely what I shall not do." "If that's the case," he said brus quely, "have the kindness to hand me the revolver y the captain's side, and -ye might see if :..e poor fellow still lives." He heard a quick rustle of skirts and the woman's band closed over his, pressing into his palm the weapon he had desired. As promptly, without further words, she turned to Quick. The adventurer deliberated briefly, while she bent over the captain, mak ing a hurried examination. "He is badly wounded," O'Rourke heard her say, as he arrived at his decision, "but not dead." "Praise God for that! . . . I must ask ye, madam, to back me up. It is necessary to clear the decks. Are ye ready?" He saw, out of the tail of his eye, that she had sprung to her feet. "Now, ye curs," he thundered, with a menacing pistol in either hand, "get forward, the lot of ye. Move, ye blackguards!" They went expeditiously, crowding between the deck-house and the rail, huddling together as if for mutual pro tection. The serang was the last to move, and went reluctantly, or seemed to. Yet that was no time to judge him for a minor fault. O'Rourke herded the pack before him, watched them scramble down the ladder to the fore deck, then backed to the spot where the woman stood above the captain. His arm was paining him somewhat, with the irritating, stinging ache that such wounds produce, and he thrust one revolver into his pocket, clasping a hand above the hurt. In a flash realization of his loss' came to him; he clutched the rail with a cry. The Pool of Flame, his sacred trust, was gone! His eyes searched the deck wildly, but found no trace of the round leather bag with its preci ous burden. Despair gripped his heart Ln a clutch of ice, and for a space the ship reeled about him. . . . He found himself -gazing blankly in to the woman's solicitous eyes. "What Is it? What is it?" he heard her voice repeating breathlessly. He knew that is own lips moved for some seconds without sound as he strove to answer er. The words, when they came, should have- been quite unintelligible o her; he realIzed this almost as soon s he had uttered them: "The Pool f Flame!" Then he stu,mbled forward, crying aloud for the serang. Half-way to the adder he halted; that individual's ead and shoulders were lifting above he level- of the deck. O'Rourke cov red him and called him aft as he gain retreated to the scene of the ragedy. Had he been in a condition to think oherently, he might have acted more prudently. But maddened, hie was able to grasp but one fact; that the Pool of Flame was gone and must be recovered at whatever hazard. The lascar ca.me with what might ave seemed suspicious alacrity, con sidering thie fact that he was coerced, that O'Rourke held him at the pistol's point. Gaunt and sombre in the noonlight, moving noiselessly in his bare feet, head up and arms swinging imp, he advanced without a pause un Lil a,bout six feet from the Irishman; t which distance O'Rourke, collect ig his wits, found voice enough to bid he fellow, "Stop!" The serang halted, impassive, un-i oved. "The sahib has called," he said in n even voice. "I am come. What is he sahib's will with me?" His words, together with his half ndolent, half-defiant, wholly contemp uous bearing, supplied the one thing eedful to r-estore to the adventurer his self-control. d'Rourke drew him self up, master of self once more, an~d looked the lascar In the eye.I "You stand," he said slowly, choos Ing his words, "on the edge of the grave. Do you comprehend that, "Aye, sahib!." "I have called ye, then, to demand bact That which is mine, the leath'r bag which ye sto!e when ye slew your: brother, pretending falsely it was he who had slain the captain. I counsel ye. speak truth and render back to 'meo that which ye have stolen." The serang stiffened, his eyes glist ening in the moonljgh_ "Sahib!" he cried as ifi in supplication. "No words, dog!" cried O'Rourks sternly. "Do as I bid ye, or abide the result of disobedience!" "'he sa'hib," said the serang slow ly, "is full of eyes and wisdom. He sees what no man would believe he could see. I am content." He bowe4 his head with curious submissivene'ss,' stretching forth his palms ase if in. token of surrender. O'Rourke caught at his breath. He had scarcely hoped foi- this; he had merely called the serang aft as the leader of the lascars, hoping to fright en him into revealing whichever of his comrades had stolen the great ruby-if he knew. "Ye have, then, the leather bag?" he demanded, exultation in his voice. "Aye, sahib; or, if not that, I have that which -was therein." "The stone?" "Aye, sahib." "Then give it me." "I am the sahib's slave." The se angw flashed a strange smile at the titude puzzled O'Rourke; he would hardly have believed this of the man; rather he could have conceived of him as denying the theft to the last and fighting like an unchained fiend to re tain his booty. His present pose was out of character, or the Irishman mis judged him. Out of character or no, it was com. fortable. The serang, witt Y'ad bent. was fumbling in the folds f his sash: O'Rourke thought him over long about it, yet was inclned to give him time in view of his abject surrender. At length. still smiling oddly, the man lifted his eyes and stretched forth a hand tight closed. "The sa hib," he said gently, "shall see that his servant spoke truth. LeL this weigh with the sahib for mercy. Be hold!" The brown fingers unclosed and in the hol:ow of his palm trembled that which seemed a ball of crystalized rose fire, the stone that man has named the Pool of Flame. O'Rourke uttered a low cry of satisfaction, step ping forward to snatch up the jewel. Simultaneously he was aware of a quick gasp from the direction of the woman, followed, ere he could account for them, by two pistol shots. The adventurer groaned, pitching forward blindly, one side of his head, from the ear to the temple, a-quiver with an agony as if a white-hot iron had seared him there. He stretched forth an arm aimlessly and gripped an Iron stanchion, stopping his fall, and hung there for what seemed an eon, sea and skies swimming blood-red be fore his eyes, in his ears a thunder ous rushing as of mighty waters. By a supreme effort of will he kept himself half-erect, clinging to the rail, and opened his eyes. So briefly had pain blinded him that it was patent barely a second had elapsed since the _ kring of the shots. To his left a stricken lascar was still in the' act of falling; before him Mrs. Prynne stood motionless, her face a mask of horror, revolver still poised; to the right the serang, drawing a kris, was smiling sardonically, his eyes fixed upon the woman who had set at naught his plans. O'Rourke tried to call a warning to her, for it was plain that she was ap palled by what she had done, heedless of all but the man she had killed; but it was as if the bullet that creased his temple had temporarily paralyzed him; his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth and he could neither move nor speak. Powerless (he believed), he watched the serang gather himself together, like some gaunt cat, and spring; in two strides he would have been upon the woman and the night had been crowned with its most pitiful crime. Yet in midair, O'Rourk'e saw the man falter and fall back, dropping the kris and clutching frantically at noth Stupidly the adventurer saw the: smoke trickling from the muzzle of his own revolver and knew that, somer.1 how, he had managed to pull the trig - ger. His heart leapt in his breast, so keen was his gratitude. Trembling1 in eve'ry limb, he essayed a second j time to fire and put a final pe,riod to. the Eerang's career. But his shot went wide and the cylinder jammed so that the hammer would not rise a, second time. With an oath he let go the rail and attemp.ted to bridge the distance between himself and the lascar, who was now at a considera, ble distance reeling away toward the rail. But his overtaxed strength, sapped by loss of blood, failed him; and mal Ie infused new vigor Into the serang, new power to a'ccomplish his final iendish act. 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